Solar attachment for transits.



-PATBNTED JAUG. 30, 1904.

D. H. BLOSSOM. SOLAR ATTACHMENT FOR TRANSITS.

APPLICATION FILED APB.. 23, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1` N0 MODEL.

No. 768,729. PATENTED AUG. 30, 1904. D. H. BLOSSOM. SOLAR ATTACHMENT POB. TRANSITS.

APPLICATION FILED APB.. 23, 1904. N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Druten STATES Patented August 30, 1904. i

ArtNr trice.

SOLAR ATTACHMENT FOR TRANSITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 768,729, dated August 30, 1904.

Application ned April 23, 1904.

To LZZ whom, it ntfty concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID H. BLossoM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented new and useful Improvements in Solar Attachments for Transits, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to solar attachments for transits and like instruments, and contemplates the provision of such a device through the medium of which the true meridian may be expeditiously found or determined.

Other advantageous features of the invention will be fully appreciated from the following description and claims, when taken in connection with the accompanying' drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- Figure l is a plan view of my attachment as the same appears when applied to the object end of a transit-telescope; Fig. 2, an enlarged side elevation of the same; Fig. 2, a

det-ail section taken in the plane indicated by I the line 2 2a of Fig. 2; Fig. 8, an elevation illustrating the side ofthe attachment opposite to that shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a front elevation of the attachment; Fig. 4a, a detailsection taken in the plane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig. 4; Fig. 5, a vertical section taken through the longitudinal center of the attacl ment; Fig. 6, a detail front elevation illustrative of the scale on the forward end of the body of the attachment, and Fig. 7 a detail plan View illustrating the reflector comprised in the attachment and the spirit-level and the milled head fixed on the trunnions of the re- Hector.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, referring to Which- A is the object end of a transit-telescope, which is provided at a with a mark, and Bis the body of my novel solar attachment. The said body B may be of-any construction compatible with the purposes of my invention without involving a departure from the scope thereof. I prefer, however, to have it comprise a cap and a tubular portion c, cast or otherwise formed in one piece, as clearly shown in Fig. The cap b is of a size to receive the object end A of the transit-telescope Serial No. 204,588. (No model.)

andis provided with resilient clamps e e', which form part of its side wall, and is also provided on the clamp e with a lug f, having a transverse threaded aperture, and on the clamp e with a lug g, having a plain transverseaperture. Journ aled in and held against endwise movement with respect to the lug g is aY screw C, which extends through the threaded aperture in the lug f and is designed to set the clamps e e against the object end of the telescope, and thereby iiX the cap on the telescope. The cap L is further provided with the mark t, which in connection with the mark t of the telescope serves to enable the operator to quickly and easily position the attachment on the telescope. As best shown in Fig. 5, the tubular portion e of the body B is provided with a beveled forward end z', bearing a scale j, Figi 6, a circumferential groove located immediately in rear of said beveled end, a smooth bore Z, and an interiorly-rab- Vbetted inner end m.

` D is a resilient clamping-band surrounding the tubular portion c of the body B and arranged in the circumferential groove lo of said tubular portion and having a threaded aperture a in one of its ends and a smooth aperthe opposite direction the band may be rendered free to turn around on said portion c.

F is an axially-movable tube which is journaled in the tubular portion cof the body B and is provided at its forward end with a iange s, disposed against the forward end of said tubular body portion and at its rear end with a reduced and eXteriorly-threaded portion t, this latter for the engagement of an interiorly-.threaded annulus u, which is disposed in the rabbet m of the tubular body portion IOO and serves to hold the tube F against forward movement in the tubular body portion c without interfering with the rotary or axial movements of' said tube. The bore of the tube F is preferably tapered toward the rear end thereof, and the tube is provided at its forward end with forwardly-reaching arms e' and on its perimeter with lugs il# w. The lug fw is provided with a transverse threaded aperture, as is also a lateral projection a' on the lug, while the lug vn is also provided with a transverse threaded aperture, Fig. il?. In the threaded aperture of the lug fw and the projection fr.' thereon bears a screw G, which has its inner end arranged to engage one side of the lug y) on the clamping-band D and is provided at its outer end with a milled head j/./, while in the threaded aperture of the lug w is arranged the threaded inner end of a housing z. This housing contains an endwisemovable hollow plunger a', which is designed to be pressed by a spring' 7/ against the opposite side of the lugp with reference to the screw G. ln virtue of this construction it will be observed that when the clamping-band D has been fixed on the tubular portion c of the body B a nice adjustment of the tube F with respect to the tubular portion c may be effected by turning the screw G toward the right, since said screw by pressing against the lug p of the fixed clamp will cause the tube F to slowly revolve toward the left# a., in a direction opposite to that in which the screw is moved. Incident to the described slow rotation of the tube F through the medium of the screw Gr the plunger a' will be forced into the housing or easing against the action of the spring b', which will be compressed. From this it follows that to revolve the tube F in the opposite direction it is simply necessary to turn the screw G to the left, when the plunger a', acting against the lug will turn the tube F in the direction opposite. to that in which the plunger moves. lln this connection it is well to state that the rotatable tube F is provided with a mark or pointer c', designed to cooperate with the scale j on the beveled forward end of the tubular body portion c, this to enable the operator to accurately position the said tube with respect to the said tubular body portion. Scale j also serves as an hour-circle to enable operator to determine the time, either A. M. or F. M.

H is an opaque reflector, preferably ofdark glass or polished metal, which is so arranged relative to the tube F as to obscure but onehalf of the Iicld of the telescope, this being materially advantageous, since it obviates the necessity of adjusting or disturbing any of the parts of the attachment after the true meridian found or determined. The reflector is also so positioned with reference to the tube F that it can be placed in any one of the five positions in thel field of' the telescopeviz., the upper half, the lower half, the center, the right half, or the left half. ln virtue of the reflector being opaque the possibility `of a double refraction or double image is obviated, which is an important advantage.

l is a rocking body interposed between the forwardly-reaching arms w of the tube F and carrying the reflector H, the said reflector being preferably of dovetail form in cross-section and set and secured in a correspondinglyshaped recess in the rocking body l, as shown in Figs. l and 7. The said rocking body I is provided at one end with a trunnion d', which is journaled in one of the arms fu and is provided with a milled head f", through the medium of which the body may be quickly rocked to position the reflector. At its opposite end the body I has a trunnion y, which is journaled in the other arm o and is provided at the outer side of the arm with a platform /1/. This platform /1/ has apertures if (see `dotted lines in Fig. to receive screws j',

depending' from a spirit-level J, and on the said screws j below and above the platform /L are nuts through the medium of which the spirit-level may be positioned and adjustably fixed with respect to the said platform a. From the foregoing it follows that the spiritlevel rocks with the rocking body l. and the reflector H on said body, and as the levelbubble reads to thirty seconds of are the onehalf suns declination (plus or minus refraction) can be directly transferred from the vertical circle of the transit bearing the attachment to the reflector of the attachment without sighting at targets or other objects, which is an important desideratum.

As before stated, the body l and the reflector H may be rocked to the approximate angle desired through the medium of the milled head f; but in order to accurately determine the angle of the reflector ,l provide the construction best shown in Figs. 2 and 2L. This construction comprises a lever K, loosely mounted on the trunnion d', a screw L, bearing in the lever and arranged to be set against the trunnion so as to fix the lever thereon, a housing or casing M, screwed into a lateral lug N on the tube F, a spring-pressed plunger P movable inthe casing M and bearing at its lower end against the lever K, a sleeve Q, screwed at its upper end into a lateral lug R on the tube F and having an interior thread at its lower end and also having a mark on its outer side, and a screw S, which bears in the said sleeve Q and is arranged to bear at its upper end against the under side of the lever K. rl`he screw S is fixed in or formed integral with a tube T, which is of a size to receive the sleeve Q and is provided with a beveled upper end and also with graduations U from O to 5, designed to be read in connection with the mark on the said sleeve Q with a view of enabling the operator to accurately place the reflector H in the position de- IOO IIO

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sired. `When the screw S and its tube T are turned toward the right, the lever K will obviously be moved upwardly, as will also the plunger P, and the spring backing said plunger will be compressed, while when the screw S and its tube T are turned toward the left said screw and tube will be moved downwardly, and the lever K will also be moved downwardly under the action of the spring behind the plunger F. It will also be noticed that when the screw L is out of engagement with the trunnion d the lever K will remain idle and will in no measure interfere with the adjustment of the reector through the medium of the milled head j.

ln the practical use of my novel attachmeut the same is placed on the object end of a perfectly-adjusted transit and is fixed with the mark /i on its body B in alinement with the complementary mark on the transit-telescope. lVith this done the transit and the main-telescope bubble are leveled, the tube F is turned so that the hour-angle reads l2, and is fixed in such position through the medium of the clamping-band D and screw F and tangentscrew G. The spirit-levelJ is brought to center to correspond with the level ofl the main telescope, an angle is set off on the vertical circle of the main telescope equal to one-half of the suns declination. (corrected for refractiom) the telescope being of' course elevated when the sun is south of the equator and depressed when the sun is north of the equator, the small bubble of the spirit-level J is brought to center and fixed in such position, the latitude of the place is set off' on the vertical circle of the transit, and the telescope is pointed vtoward the south, after which the revolving motion of the solar and the horizontal motion of the transit are unclamped and both are moved until the suns reflection appears in the square of the solar hairs of the transit and the transit is clamped, when the telescope will be on the meridian. Vith this done a sight may be taken without disturbing the solar in any way.

lt will be appreciated from the foregoing that my novel attachment is adapted for use on any transit equipped with a vertical circle reading to single minutes of are; also, that the attachment is so constructed that its position as regards upper side and lower side will always be the same relative to the transit-telescope, this being materially advantageous, since it obviates the necessity of adjustment every time the attachment is employed.

Because of the graduations on the tube T c., the graduations O to 5, and ten small graduations between each couple of numbered graduations--it will be observed that in revolving the said tube each small division moves the reflector through one-half minute of arc. A large division from O to 1, for example, moves reflector through five minutes of are, and a complete'revoc' l lution from 0 to 0 moves reflector through thirty minutes of arc. This 1s for the purpose of changing the declination-angleV without referring to the level-bubble after the reflector is first set at a known angle.

The projections c7 on the body portion are designed to bear against the shoulder of the transit-telescope, against which the cap and sunshade rest, Fig. 2, with a view of preventing the front of the body portion from coming in contact with the object-gl ass of the telescope or the ring that holds it and gives a more secure bearing for positioning the solar attachment.

The journals in the'arms e are to be so constructed that the body I may be adjusted so that the refiector when in a vertical position with main-telescope level will be perpendicular to the line of collimation of the transit.

By tightening the annulus a any wear that may occur between the tubular body portion c and the tube F may be taken up by cutting back the flange s.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction and 'relative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiment of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of said embodiment. I do not desire, however, to `be understood as confining myself to such specific construction and relative arrangement of parts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. The combination with the telescope of a transit; of a reflector and a level carried by the telescope; the said reflector and the level being fixed with respect to each other and movable together and with respect to the telescope.

2. The combination with the telescope of a transit; of a reflector and a spirit-level carried by the telescope; the said reflector and the level being' fixed with respect to each other, and rotatable together and with respect to the telescope.

3. A solar attachment for transits and similar instruments, comprising a suitable support, a reflector having trunnions journaled in the support, and a spirit-level mounted o n one of the trunnions of the reflector, and movable with said reflector.

t. A solar attachmentfor transits and similar instruments, comprising a suitable support, a refiector havingtrunnions journaled in the support, a spirit-level mounted on one of' the trunnions of the reflector and movable with said refiector, and a head fixed on the other trunnion of the reflector.

5. The combination of a tube having for- IOI) wardly-reaching arms, a reflector interposed between the said arms, and having trunnions 'iournaled therein, and a spirit-level on one of the trunnions ot the rcfiector.

6. The combination of' a tube, vand a rotatable reflector mounted so as to rest parallel to the line ot collimation oil the tube when it extends in the same direction as the tube.

7. The combination of a tube having a scale at its iorward end, and a second tube movable axially with respect to the lirst-men tioned tube, and carrying reflector, and provided with a pointer arranged to coperate with the scale oi.I the first-mentioned tube.

8. The combination of a tube having a scale at its iorward end, a second tube supported by and movable axially with respect to the first-mentioned tube and provided with a pointer arranged to cooperate with the scale of the first-mentioned tube, a rotatable reflector mounted in the second-mentioned tube, and a spirit-level connected and rotatable with the reflector. i

i). The combination of a tubular .body portion, a tube supported by and movable axially with respect to the said tubular body portion, a rotatable reflector carried by said tube, a spirit-level connected and rotatable with the reflector, and means for adjusting the tube on and adjustably fixing the same with respect to the tubular body portion.

10. The combination of' a tubular body portion, a tube supported by and movable axially with respect to the said tubular body portion, a reiiector carried by said tube, a resilient clamping-band mounted on the tubular body portionandhaving a lug, a screw connecting' the ends of' the said resilient clamping-band, means connected with the tube and bearing against one side of the lug on the clamping-band for moving the tube axially in one direction, and means carried by the tube and bearing against the opposite side o'l the lug on the clamping-band for moving the tube axially in the opposite direction.

11. The combination otf a tube, a rotatable reflector mounted in the tube, a lever connected with the reliector, a spriugpressed plunger carried by the tube and bearing against one side ot' the lever, a sleeve also carried by the tube and provided with a pointer and. an interior scre\ hthread, a screw bearing in said sleeve and arranged to engage the opposite side of' the lever, with ref'- ercnce to the plunger, and a tube carried by the screw and arranged to receive the sleeve; said tube having a scale arranged to 4coperate with the pointer ot the sleeve.

12. The combination ofl a sleeve provided with an interior screw-thread and an exterior pointer, and a screw bearing in said sleeve and having a tube which receives the sleeve and is provided with a scale adapted to cooperate with the pointer thereof.

13. The combination with the telescope ot a transit; of a solar attachment comprising a cap removably arranged on the object end of the telescope; said cap having spring-clamps forming part ot' its side wall, and also having adjustable means connecting the free ends o'fl the said clamps.

14. The combination of a tubular body portion, a tube supported by and movable axially with respect to the said tubular body portion, a pointer on the one and a scale on the other whereby the position ot' the tube may be accurately determined, a reflector carried by the tube, and suitable means if'or adjustably fixing the tube with respect to the tubular body portion.

15. The combination ot a tubular body portion, a tubef supported by and movable axially with respect to the said tubular body portion, a pointer on the one and a scale on the other whereby the position ot the tube may be accurately determined, means for adjust-ably fixing the tube with respect to the tubular body portion, a rotatable reflector carried by the tube, a spirit-level connected and rotatable with the reflector, and means for adjustably iixing the reflector against ro* tation.

16. The combination ot' a tube, a rotatable, opaque reflector mounted in alinement with the tube and obstructing only halt the field of view, and a spirit-level connected and rotatable with the reflector.

In testimony whereoil 1 have hereunto set my hand in presence oi two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID H. BLOSSOM. l/Vitncsses:

ALLisoN ANDimws, EUGENE T. HILLS. 

